Oral - Climate Change Commission Update and Consultation on the Climate Change Strategy

I am pleased to report on the fifth meeting of the Climate Change Commission for Wales held on 4 December. I provided an overview of the actions that have been undertaken by the Assembly Government since the commission last met in October. Key updates included a draft of the first stage of the 'Climate Change Strategy for Wales’, the high level policy statement. The Climate Change Commission played a critical role in every stage of the production of this document, which provides a detailed explanation of Assembly Government commitments on climate change and where we intend to focus action. The consultation, which will run for six weeks, was launched on 9 January.

Later this year, the Assembly Government will publish the second stage of this strategy, which will contain more detailed policy proposals and demonstrate how we intend to achieve the commitments set out in the high-level document.

The launch of the sustainable development consultation, 'One Wales: One Planet’, makes Wales the first nation in the UK to commit to reducing our ecological footprint to the global fair share. 'One Wales: One Planet’ also includes commitments to reduce Wales’s carbon-based energy use by 80 to 90 per cent, to becoming a zero-waste nation, to sourcing more of our food locally and to becoming a fairer society.

On the success of the climate change champions as they near the end of their year in office, I am proud of all the achievements of the champions during the last year, and I am confident that they will continue to work on the climate change agenda. There was also an update on the competition to select this year’s champions. Yesterday I had the pleasure of announcing the winners, and our six new champions are hugely enthusiastic about continuing their predecessors’ excellent work. I am particularly looking forward to their involvement with the commission in the coming year, representing young people across Wales.

There was also an update on the first of four community events, held in Narberth. It provided an excellent way for community groups to network and share experience as well as for the Assembly Government to share the materials that we have produced, including a DVD, a carbon calculator and a community action pack. The remaining events will be held in Wrexham, Bangor and Cardiff at the end of this month.

There was an update on the launch of the second environment strategy action plan, which sets out to drive action to deliver a better environment by involving individuals and communities across Wales.

I attended the United Nations climate change conference in Poznań shortly after the commission meeting. Commission members also provided updates about work under way in their sectors and organisations.

Two of the Assembly Government’s climate change champions, Tom Williams and Katie Gupwell, participated in the meeting and gave an update on their recent activities. The commission was very interested in the single and music video that the champions had released, 'Carbon Soldier’, and it was agreed that the single should be promoted as widely as possible, although it did not become the Christmas No. 1.

The commission considered the consultation reviewing the axis 2 agri-environment schemes, which set out the main options for the future allocation of support to Welsh farmers to deliver environmental benefits.
Philippe Varin, chief executive officer of Corus Group, provided the commission with an excellent presentation, demonstrating the actions taken by Corus to tackle its emissions and outlining the wider challenges of emission reduction in energy-intensive industries globally. Heavy industry is a crucial part of the Welsh economy, but it is also a major source of emissions, and the commission is keen to maintain a constructive dialogue with companies such as Corus. The discussion following the presentation included the topic of carbon leakage, reminding us that while working to reduce emissions in Wales, we must ensure we do not cause an increase in emissions elsewhere.

A representative from the UK Committee on Climate Change provided a presentation summarising the advice on carbon budgets, which the committee published on 1 December 2008. In particular, the presentation and the discussion focused on the implications of the distinctive features of the Welsh economy, including the importance of major industry, lower income levels and higher rates of fuel poverty, in relation to the committee’s advice.
Representatives from the commission’s adaptation sub-group attended the meeting to present a number of papers, which were welcomed by the commission members and discussed in detail. The papers covered adaptation and the natural environment, social and community issues, and the economic impacts of adaptation.

The adaptation papers were the second of four sets produced by the sub-groups. The research, economic and baseline papers were discussed in October, and the commission will consider the papers from the emission reduction and communication sub-groups at the commission’s meeting next week. These papers were a useful starting point for the last part of the meeting, which was a joint session with the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. The Royal Commission is currently researching a report entitled 'Adapting the UK to Climate Change’, and so was keen to gain a Welsh perspective on this issue. The Climate Change Commission found the discussion most informative, and the Royal Commission also commented that the meeting was useful. I look forward to the Royal Commission publishing its report and to using the evidence base that it represents to inform Assembly Government policy.

The next meeting of the Climate Change Commission will be held on 28 and 29 January in Llandrindod Wells. At this meeting, the commission will begin to discuss the second stage of the climate change strategy, incorporating into its discussion work carried out by the commission sub-groups, the Committee on Climate Change, and all departments of the Assembly Government.